Universal life insurance overview.

Essential coverage plus flexibility and choices.

Universal Life Insurance is a flexible life insurance policy that combines the benefits of permanent life insurance protection and cash value accumulations with the convenience of adjustable premiums and payment schedules.1 And, within a Universal Life Insurance policy, cash value accumulations grow tax-deferred at competitive interest rates.

Universal Life Insurance gives you the flexibility to choose the amount of protection that best suits your family or business, and it enables you to increase or decrease your coverage level as your business or personal insurance needs change.2

New York Life Universal Life®. Click here for latest Fact Sheet and brochure.
New York Life Universal Life (NYL UL) provides a permanent, cost-effective, and flexible solution to your life insurance planning needs. This product provides a lifetime of life insurance protection for your family or business. Should your protection needs grow, you have the ability to increase your policy’s coverage amount.2 You can also tailor your premium payments and your life insurance benefit to help meet your financial goals.1 This product is available at face amounts of $25,000 up to company retention limits.

New York Life Survivorship Universal Life®. Click here for latest Fact Sheet and brochure.
New York Life Survivorship Universal Life (NYL SUL) provides a permanent, cost-effective, and flexible second-to-die solution to your life insurance planning needs. This life insurance benefit provides a source of funds to address a variety of estate and business needs. Because circumstances and priorities can change quickly, NYL SUL is designed to be flexible. Should your protection needs grow, you have the ability to increase your policy’s coverage amount.2 You can also tailor your premium payments and your life insurance benefit to help meet your financial goals.1 This product is available at face amounts of $250,000 up to company retention limits.

If a New York Life Universal Life product is right for your situation and needs, read on to learn about its many benefits and features.

A death benefit that is usually free from income taxes.

Cash value that accumulates tax-deferred and can be accessed in times of need.3

Flexible life insurance protection that can change with your needs over time.

Premium payments that can be tailored to suit your budget.

A choice of three life insurance benefit options.

A No Lapse Guarantee Rider.4

Significant business benefits from insurance protection.

The ability to customize your coverage with policy riders.

Death benefit protection.

Universal Life policies, backed by the financial strength of NYLIAC, provide the traditional life insurance protection that you need to protect your loved ones, ensure their continued financial security, and help protect your business upon your death. Beneficiaries receive policy death benefit proceeds generally free from income taxes and probate delays. This immediate cash source can help pay final expenses, cover outstanding debts, and help ensure business continuation.

Permanent protection with flexible payments.

NYL Universal Life products are designed to give you added flexibility while preserving the benefits of a permanent life insurance policy. You have the freedom to choose the amount of coverage that suits you best—and, within limits, choose a payment amount that works within your budget. You can also increase or decrease the face amount of your coverage2 and vary the frequency and amount of your premium payments1 to best meet your individual and business goals.

Cash value accumulation.

Your NYL UL and NYL SUL policies have the potential to earn cash value, which can increase the death benefit your beneficiaries receive.2 Provided it’s sufficient, your cash surrender value can be accessed through policy loans and partial surrenders1,3 to buy a home, fund a child’s education, or supplement retirement income.

In addition, if cash value accumulation is a high priority for you, you can increase your regular premium payments or make additional unscheduled payments into your policy.5 Paying additional premiums provides you with the opportunity for greater cash value accumulation—which can then be used3 if needed in the future.

Life insurance benefit options.

NYL UL and NYL SUL policies offer a choice of three life insurance benefit options. Because your policy can be purchased for a variety of business or personal uses, it’s important to select a life insurance benefit option in line with your intended policy use. The life insurance benefit options are:

Option 1 provides a death benefit equal to the policy’s face amount.

Option 2 provides a death benefit equal to the sum of the face amount and the cash value.

Option 3 provides a death benefit equal to the sum of the face amount and total premiums paid less any partial surrenders.

No Lapse Guarantee Rider.4

The No Lapse Guarantee Rider (NLGR) ensures that during the surrender charge period, if you fund your policy at the required premium to maintain the guarantee, the policy will not lapse, even if the cash surrender value is not sufficient to cover the policy’s monthly deduction charges. It is an added level of security thats automatically included with your NYL UL or NYL SUL policy at no additional cost.

Potential business benefits.

If you’re a business owner, you’re likely aware of the potential financial pitfalls if anything happens to you, a co-owning spouse, or a key employee. With its ability to conform to your needs, universal life can be an ideal insurance fit for you.

For example, owning life insurance may enhance your financial stability when applying for a bank loan, because a death benefit may decrease your credit risk. And with a universal life policy, you have the option of decreasing or even skipping premium payments1,2 if your cash flow fluctuates, or to accommodate increased overhead costs.

Universal life policies can also be purchased to cover the lives of key employees or business partners. This helps to ensure the continuity of your business if they pass away unexpectedly.

Customize your policy with additional riders.6

Your agent can help explain the advantages of adding riders, and provide details about the wide range of riders available based on your needs and goals.

Here’s a brief look at some of the riders available with a New York Life Universal Life policy:

The Lapse Protection Benefit Rider guarantees that the base policy does not lapse, even if the cash surrender value is not sufficient to cover the monthly deduction charges while the rider is in effect. The rider provides two levels of protection: 1) Attained age 90 lapse protection benefit and 2) 15-year lapse protection benefit. This rider is optional and can only be selected at issue of the base policy for an additional charge.

The Monthly Deduction Waiver Rider provides extra protection for you and your family should you suffer from a total disability and be unable to work for six months or more. NYL will waive the policy’s monthly deduction charges, including cost of insurance for base policy, the cost of any riders on the policy, the monthly administrative fee, and the per-$1,000 of face amount charge. There is a monthly charge for this rider.7

The Living Benefits Rider8 gives the policyowner access to a portion of the policy’s eligible death benefit if the insured is diagnosed with a terminal illness and has a life expectancy of 12 months or less.9 This rider can be selected at issue or at anytime up to age 90.

Accidental Death Benefit Rider10 provides additional death benefit funds if the insured dies as a direct result of an accident, and within one year of the accident.

The Other Covered Insured Rider provides level term insurance coverage on the insured’s spouse, children, and business partners. Coverage is convertible to any permanent plan of insurance that is offered until the policy anniversary when the rider insured is age 70.11 There is a monthly charge for this rider.

Here’s a brief look at some of the riders available with a New York Life Survivorship Universal Life policy:

The Estate Protection Rider provides extra protection in instances where the “contemplation of death rule” might be applied, and pays an additional death benefit to the beneficiary if both insureds die before the fourth policy anniversary.12

The Level First to Die Rider provides a level term face amount and pays a death benefit upon the death of the first insured.

The Ten Year Level Term Rider provides an additional face amount and death benefit that is paid to the beneficiary upon the death of the second insured. All or part of this rider can be converted to a qualifying permanent survivorship life insurance policy. This rider can only be selected at issue of the base policy for an additional charge.

The Living Benefits Rider8 is only available after the death of the first of either insured. This rider gives the policyowner access to a portion of the policy’s eligible death benefit if the insured is diagnosed with a terminal illness and has a life expectancy of 12 months or less.9 This rider is automatically included with your NYL SUL policy.

Our family of products can help protect your family.

At New York Life, we understand the importance of having enough money to meet your financial obligations and pursue your personal goals. That’s why we offer a variety of competitively priced insurance and financial products to help you meet your goals—whether they include income protection for your family, long-term care preparation, or retirement planning. Your financial future is important to us because it is important to you. Moreover, our agents—among the best trained in the industry—are duly committed to the clients they serve. Please speak to your agent about all of your financial and insurance needs, and how New York Life can help.

The strength behind our promises.

New York Life Universal Life is issued by New York Life Insurance and Annuity Corporation (NYLIAC), a wholly owned subsidiary of New York Life Insurance Company. Since 1845, New York Life, the parent company of NYLIAC, has provided quality insurance products for individuals, families, and businesses. A Fortune 100 company,13 New York Life and its affiliate, NYLIAC, have earned ratings for financial strength over the years that are among the highest offered by each of the four major independent rating agencies.14

Talk it through with an expert.

Further Reading

1The policy will terminate if at any time the cash surrender value is insufficient to pay the monthly deductions. This can happen due to insufficient premium payments, if loans or partial surrenders are made, or if current interest rates or charges fluctuate.

2Increases are subject to underwriting. Face Amount changes are available after the first policy year.

3Policy loans and/or partial surrenders will reduce the cash surrender value and life insurance benefit, and may be subject to income tax and a 10% IRS tax penalty if the policy is a modified endowment contract and the policyholder is not yet 59½.

4Failure to satisfy the Cumulative Required NLGR Monthly Premium Test will cause the rider and the guarantee to become inactive, and increase the potential that the policy may lapse for insufficient cash surrender value. At the end of the guarantee period, if only the required premium has been paid, the policy may lapse for insufficient cash surrender value. See the rider form for more details. This rider is referred to as the Coverage Protection Benefit rider in Illinois.

5If a life insurance policy is classified as a modified endowment contract (MEC), there may be adverse tax consequences. Please consult your tax advisor for more information.

6Not all riders are available in all jurisdictions; some variations may exist.

7The disability must be sustained for at least six months, at which time six months’ worth of monthly deductions will be added back to the cash value of the policy. If the disability begins before age 60 and continues to age 65, deductions will be waived until the policy anniversary when the insured is age 100. If the disability begins after age 60 but before age 65, waiver of monthly deductions will continue only until the policy anniversary when the insured is age 65.

8This rider involves an administrative fee when it is exercised. The rider involves a maximum $250,000 benefit per insured for UL policies.

924 months in Washington and six months or less in Michigan.

10An additional cost for this rider applies until the rider expires at insured’s age 70. The maximum face amount is the lesser of the base face amount or $300,000.

11OCI conversions to the NYL Custom UL and SUL Guarantee products are not eligible within five years of the rider issue date.

12The amount must be selected at issued and the maximum percentage is 122% of the base policy face amount.

13New York Life ranked #80 on the Fortune 500 list published in 2015. http://fortune.com/fortune500/

In Oregon, the New York Life Universal Life policy form number is 311-51.27. The rider form numbers are as follows: In Oregon: Accidental Death Benefit: 829-200.27; Guaranteed Insurability: 829-400.27; Lapse Protection Benefit: 312-226; Living Benefits: 929-495.27; and Monthly Deduction Waiver: 898-225.27. In most jurisdictions: Insurance Exchange: 309-470; Spouse’s Paid-Up Insurance Purchase Option: 305-375; Children’s Insurance: 869-246.27; No Lapse Guarantee: 311-224.27; and Other Covered Insured: 305-425.

In Oregon, the New York Life Survivorship Universal Life policy form number is 311-180.27. The Living Benefits rider form number is 929-495.17 and the Ten Year Level Term rider form number is 311-325.27. In most jurisdictions, the Estate Protection rider form number is 308-405, the First to Die rider form number is 309-336, and No Lapse Guarantee rider form number is 311-370.